Weekly Newsletter

Come and experience a small but mighty Jewish high school with a big heart!

We look forward to seeing you there!

Applications for the 2014 – 2015 school year will open December 2 for students entering Grades 8 – 11.

Experimentation in Science

Shelley Grade 11 and Ma’ayan, Grade 10 closely observe and then record their findings

Chemistry 11 students were busy making the lab smell like a bathroom! Paradichlorobenzene is one of the chemicals used in urinal cakes. Students collected data which they then used to plot phase change graphs as part of their study of physical change.

Ms. Baloun demonstrates the experiment

Professional Development

Social Emotional Learning and Jewish Values

Jewish Day School teachers learn together

Dr. Wendy Mogel

Dr. Wendy Mogel is an internationally acclaimed clinical psychologist, parenting expert and author of the New York Times bestselling parenting book, The Blessing of a Skinned Knee. Her follow up book, The Blessing of a B Minus, teaches parents how to raise resilient teenagers. Dr. Mogel kept us entertained throughout her wise and witty presentation linking child development and Jewish values. She created a renewed awareness about children and the stages of their development that resonated with the group as both teachers and parents. We all walked away talking about many of the issues she raised and reflected on how we could do things differently.

Dr Kim Schonert-Reichl

Dr. Kim Schonert-Reichl discussed the notion of fostering happiness in children. She combined research and practice while providing us with strategies to use both in our classrooms as educators and personally in our lives in order to manage the daily stressors of the job.

Kim shared with us the changes and redesign of the BC curriculum that focuses on the competencies that are vital to personal and social success, life-long learning, and to the changing workplace. These changes place an emphasis on social and emotional learning and mechanisms that foster positive development, such as empathy, optimism, and altruism. The research shows that when children perform acts of kindness, show gratitude and focus on positive perspective taking, their overall well-being and happiness improve, as does their academic success. Advances in neuroscience have shown that a mindfulness practice, present moment focused attention without judgement, can improve students executive functions, pro-social behavior and reduce depressive symptoms.

King David’s staff is eager to incorporate the new learned research findings into the existing programs and improve the well-being of our community.

The morning concluded with the presentation of the Grinspoon-Steinhardt Award for Excellence in Jewish Education to Shoshana Burton. Shoshi, a teacher who engages the heart and the mind, has touched the lives of students and families in Vancouver for many years. She has taught at VTT, King David and now, RJDS. King David nominated her for this prestigious award in recognition of the significant contribution she has made to Jewish education. Over the years, Shoshi has demonstrated the true impact of educating both the heart and the mind to develop well-rounded students. Kol Hakavod, SHoshi

Parent Teacher Conferences

Ms. Gardiner meets with parents

A growing body of evidence suggests that family engagement matters for student success. Research shows that family engagement improves school readiness, student achievement, and social skills. Furthermore, an increasing number of innovative approaches to education leverage and connect the many settings and times in which children learn and grow to create seamless complementary learning systems that place families as core partners in the learning process.

Thank you to all our parent partners who have moved through the hallways meeting with teachers over the last two days.